THE 

PHILOSOPHY  OF  SECESSION  5 

A   SOUTHERN   VIEW, 

Presented   in  a  Letter   addressed  to  the  Hon.  Mr,  Perkins  of 

Louisiana,  in  criticism  on  the  Provisional  Constitution  adopted 

by  the  Southern  Congress  at  Montgomery,  Alabama, 

BY   THE 

HON.    L.    W.    S!PPiA/rT, 

Editor   of  the    Charleston    Mercury,    \3th    February,    1861. 


The  South  is  now  in  the  formation  of  a 
Slave  Republic.  This,  perhaps,  is  not  ad- 
mitted generally.  There  are  many  content- 
ed to  believe  that  the  South  as  a  geographical 
section  is  in  mere  assertion  of  its  independ- 
ence ;  that,  it  is  instinct  with  no  especial 
truth— pregnant  of  no  distinct  social  nature  ; 
that  for  some  unaccountable  reason  the  two 
sections  have  become  opposed  to  each  other ; 
that  for  reasons  equally  insufficient,  there  is 
disagreement  between  the  peoples  that  di- 
rect them  ;  and  that  from  no  overrulling  ne- 
cessity, no  impossibilty  of  co-existence,  but 
as  mere  matter  ot  policy,  it  has  been  consid- 
ered best  for  the  South  to  strike  out  for  her- 
self and  establish  an  independance  of  her 
iriwn.  This,  I  fear,  is  an  inadequate  concep- 
tion of  the  controversy. 

The  contest  is  not  between  the  North  and  South 
as  geographical  sections,  for  between,  such  sections 
merely  there  can  be  no  contest  ;  nor  between  the 
people  of  the  North  and  the  people  of  the  South, 
for  our  relations  haoe  been  pleasant,  and  on  neu- 
tral grounds  there  is  still  nothing  to  estrange 
us.  We  eat  together,  trade  together,  and 
practice,  yet,  in  intercourse,  with  great  re- 
spect, the  courtesies  of  common  life.  But 
the  real  contest  is  between  the  two  forms  of 
society  which  have  become  established,  the 
one  at  the  North  and  the  other  at  the  South. 
Society  is  essentially  different  from  govern- 
ment— as  different  as  is  the  nut  from  the  bur, 
or  the  nervous  body  of  the  shell-fish  from  the 
bony  structure  which  surrounds  it ;  and  within 
this  government  two  societies  had  become 
developed  as  variant  in  structure  and  distinct 
in  form  as  any  two  beings  in  animated  nature. 
The  one  is  a  society  composed  of  one  race, 


the  other  of  two  races.  The  one  is  bound  to- 
gether but  by  the  two  great  aocal  relations  of 
husband  and  wife  and  parent  and  child  ;  the 
other  by  the  three  relations  of  husband  and 
wife,  and  parent  and  child,  and  master  arid 
slave.  The  one  embodies  in  its  political 
structure  the  principle  that  equality  is  the 
right  of  man  ;  the  other  that  it  is  the  right  of 
equals  only.  The  one  embodying  the  prin- 
ciple that  equality  is  the  right  of  man,  ex- 
pands upon  the  horizontal  plane  of  pure  de- 
mocracy ;  the  other,  embodying  the  principle 
that  it  is  not  the  right  of  man,  but  of  equals 
only,  has  taken  to  itself  the  rounded  form  of 
a  social  aristocracy.  In  the  one  there  is  hire- 
ling labor,  in  the  other  slave  labor ;  in  the  one, 
therefore,  in  theory  at  least,  labor  is  voluntary; 
in  the  other  involuntary  ;  in  the  labor  of  the 
one  there  is  the  elective  franchise,  in  the 
other  there  is  not :  and,  as  labor  is  always  in 
excess  of  direction,  in  the  one  the  power  of 
government  is  only  with  the  lower  classes  ; 
in  the  other  the  upper.  In  the  one,  therefore, 
the  reins  of  government  come  from  the  heels, 
in  the  other  from  the  head  of  the  society;  in 
the  one  it  is  guided  by  the  worst,  in  the  other 
by  the  best,  intelligence  ;  in  the  one  it  is  from 
those  who  have  the  least,  in  the  other  from 
those  who  have  the  greatest,  stake  in  the  con- 
tinuance of  existing  order.  In  the  one  the 
pauper  laborer  has  the  power  to  rise  and  ap- 
propriate by  law  the  goods  protected  by  the 
State — when  pressure  comes,  as  come  it 
must,  there  will  be  the  motive  to  exert  it — 
and  thus  the  ship  of  State  turns  bottom  up- 
wards. In  the  other  there  is  no  pauper  labor 
with  power  of  rising  ;  the  ship  of  State  has 
the  ballast  of  a  disfranchised  class  :  there  is 


no  possibility  of  polilieal  upheaval,  therefore, 
and  it  is  reasonably  certain  that,  so  steadied, 
it  will  sail  erect  and  onward  to  an  indefinitely 
distant  period. 

Such  are  some  of  the  more  obvious  differ- 
ences in  form  and  constitution  between  these 
two  societies  which  had  ccme  into  conlact 
within  the  limits  of  the  recent  Union.  And 
perhaps  it  is  not  the  least  remarkable,  in  this 
connection,  that  while  the  one,  a  shapeless, 
organless,  mere  mass  of  social  elen.ents  in  no 
definite  relation  to  each  other,  is  loved  and 
eulogized,  and  stands  the  ideal  of  the  age, 
the  other  comely  and  proportioned  with  labor 
and  direction,  mind  andmalterin  just  relation 
to  each  other,  presenting  analogy  1o  the  very 
highest  developments  in  animated  nature  is 
condemned  and  reprobated.  Even  we  our- 
selves have  hardly  ventured  to  affiim  it-- 
while  the  cock  crows,  in  fact,  are  ready  to 
deny  it  ;  and  if  it  shall  not  perish  on  the  cross 
of  human  judgment,  it  must  be  for  the  reason 
that  the  Great  Eternal  has  not  purposed  that 
still  another  agent  of  his  will  shall  ccme  to 
such  excess  of  human  ignominy. 

Such  aie  ihe  two  forms  of  society  which 
had  come  to  contest  within  the  structure  of 
the  recent  Union.  And  the  contest  lor  ex- 
istence was  inevitable.  Neither  could  con- 
cur in  the  requisitions  of  the  clher;  neither 
could  expand  within  the  forms  of  a  single 
government  without  encroachment  on  the 
other.  Like  twin  lobsteis  in  a  single  shell, 
ii  such  a  thing  were  possible,  the  natural 
expansion  oi  the  one  must  be  inconsistent 
with  the  existence  of  the  other  ;  or  like  an 
eagle  and  a  fish,  joined  by  an  indissoluble 
bond,  which  for  no  reason  of  its  propriety 
could  act  together,  where  the  eagle  <  oukl 
not  share  the  fluid  suited  lo  the  fish  and 
live,  where  the  fish  could  not  share  the  fluid 
suited  to  the  bird  and  live,  and  where  one 
must  perish  that  the  other  may  survive,  un- 
less the  unatural  Union  shall  be  severed — 
so  these  societies  could  not,  if  ihey  would, 
concur.  The  principal  that  races  are  un- 
equal, and  that  among  unequals  inequality 
is  right,  would  have  been  destructive  to  the 
form  of  pure  democracy  at  the  Noith.  The 
principle  thai  all  men  are  equal  and  equally 
right,  would  have  been  destructive  of  slavery 
at  the  South.  Each  requited  the  element 
suited  to  its  social  nature.  Each  must  strive 
to  make  the  government  expressive  of  its 
social  nature.  The  natural  expansion  of  the 
one  must  become  encroachment  on  the  other, 
and  so  the  contest  was  inevitable.  Seward 
and  Lincoln,  in  theor)'  at  least,  whatever  be 
their  aim,  are  right.  I  realized  the  fact  and 
go  declared  the  conflict  irrepressible  yean: 
^efore  either  ventured  to  advance   that  pro- 


position. Upon  that  declaration  I  have  af- 
'■  ways  acted,  and  the  recent  experience  of  my 
j  country  has  not  induced  me  to  question  the 
-  correctness  of  that  first  conception. 

Nor  is  indignation  at  such  leaders  becom- 
|  ing  the  statesmen    of  the    South.     The   ten- 
dency of  social  action  was  against  us.     The 
speaker  to  be  hea'd  must  speak  against  slav- 
ery ;    the  preacher  to  retan  his  charge,  must 
preach    against    slaver)  :    the    aulhor  to   be 
;  read,   must   wrile  against  slavery  ;  the   can- 
'  didate,  to  attain  office,  must    pledge    himself 
I  against  slavery;   the   office-holder,   to   con- 
tinue, must  redeem  tl  e  pledges  of  the  can- 
\  didate.     They  did    not   originate  the  policy, 
!  but  ihey  pandered  to  it  :   ihey   did    not    start 
.  ihe  current,  but  they  floated  on  it  ;  and  were 
as   powerless   as    driii-wciri   to    control    its 
course.     The  great   tendency  lo    social    con- 
'  flict  pre-existed  :  it  was  in  the  heart  of  the 
I  Nonh — it  was  in  the  veiy  structure  oi  Ncith- 
'  ern  society.      It   was  not  a  matter  of  choice 
lut   of  necessity    that   such    society    should 
disaffirm  a  society  in    contradiction  of  it.     It 
was  not  a  matter  of   choice    tut  <.f  necessity 
.  that  it  should  approve  of  ads  against  it.      in 
possession  of  power,  it  flowed  to  political  ac- 
i  tion    on  the    South,    as  fluids  flow  to    lower 
'  levels.     "I  he  acts  of  ir  dividual*  were  unim- 
poitant.     If  I   had  possessed    the  power  to 
change   the   mil  d   of  every   Republican   in 
j  Congress,  i  would   not  have  been  at  pains  to 
|  do  so.     They  would  have  fallen  belore  an  in- 
dignant constituency,  and  men   would  have 
been  sent  to  their  places  whose  minds  could 
never  change.      INor  in  fact,  have  they  been 
without  ii  eir  vte.      As  ll  e  conflict  was  irre- 
pressible, as  Ihey  were  urged  on  by  an  inex- 
orable  power,   it   was   imjcilant    we  should 
know  it.      Our  own  political  leaders  lefused 
[  to  realize  ihe  iact.     The  zealots  ot  the  North 
alone  could  force  the  recognition  ;   and  I  am 
bound  to  own  that  Giddings,  and  Greely,  and 
!  Seward,  and  Lincoln,   parasites   as  they  are, 
I  pandereis   to  popx-lar  taste   as  they  are,  the 
instruments,    and   the    mere    mstiuroer  ts,  of 
aggression,  have  done  more  to  louse  us  to  the 
vindication  of  our  rights  than  the  bravest  and 
the  best  among  us. 

Such,  then,  was  the  nature  of  this  contest. 

It  w  as  inevitable.      Jt  was  inaugurated  with 

the  government.     It  began  at  the  beginning, 

!  and  almost   at    the   stait  ihe  chances  of  the 

game  were  turned  against  us.       If  th(  fomgn 

slave  trade  had  never'  been  supprissed,  slave  society 

|  mutt  hove  triumphed.     It  extended  to  the  limits 

'  of  New  England. 

Pari    passu    with    emigrants   from   Europe 

I  came  slaves  from  Africa.     Step  by   step  the 

two  in  union  marched  upon  the  West,  and  it 

!  is  reasonably  certain,  had  the  means  to  fur- 


3 


ther  union  been  admitted,  that  so  they  would 
have  continued  to  march  upon  the  West,  that 
slave  labor  would  hnve  been  cheaper  than 
hireling  labor',  that,  transcending  agriculture, 
it  would  have  expanded  to  the  arts:  and  that 
thus  one  homogeneous  form  of  labor  and  one 
homogeneous  form  of  society,  unquestioned 
by  one  single  dreamer,  and  cherished  at  home 
and  honored  abroad,  would  have  overspread 
the  entire  available  surface  of  the  lite  United 
States.  But,  the  slave  trade  suppressed,  dem- 
ocratic society  has  triumphed.  The  States  of 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Delaware  found  an  attractive  market  for  their 
slaves.  They  found  a  cheaper  pauper  labor 
to  replace  it  ;  that  pauper  labor  poured  in 
from  Europe  ;  while  it  replaced  the  slave,-  it 
increased  the  political  power  of  the  Northern 
States.  More  than  five  millions  from  abroad 
have  been  added  to  their  number  ;  that  addi- 
tion has  enabled  them  to  grasp  and  hold  the 
government.  That  government,  from  the 
very  necessities  of  their  nature  they  are  forced 
to  use  against  us.  Slavery  was  within  hs 
grasp,  and  forced  to  the  option  of  extinction  in 
the  Union  or  of  independance  out,  it  u'ares  to 
strike,  an.il  it'asseils  its  claim  to  nationality  and  its 
right  to  recognition  among  the  leading  social 
systems  of  the  world. 

Such,  then  being  the  nature  of  the  contest, 
this  Union  has  been  disrupted  in  the  effort  of 
slave  society  to  emancipate  itself  ;  and  the 
momentous  question  now  to  be  determined 
is,  shall  that  effort  be  successful  ?  That  the 
Republic  of  the  South  shall  sustain  her  inde- 
pendance, there  is  Jittle  question.  The  form 
oi  our  society  is  too  pregnant  of  intellectual 
resources  and  military  strength  to  be  subdued, 
if,  in  its  products,  it  did  not  hold  the  bonds  of 
amity  and  peace  upon  all  the  leading  nations 
of  the  world.  But  in  the  independance  of  the 
South  is  there  surely  the  emancipation,  of  domestic 
slavery  1  That  is  greatly  to  be  doubted.  Our 
property  in  slaves  will  be  established.  If  it 
has  stood  in  a  government  more  than  half  of 
which  has  been  pledged  to  its  destruction,  it 
will  surely  stand  in  a  government  every 
member  of  which  will  be  pledged  to  its  de- 
fence. But  will  it  be  established  as  a  normal 
institution  or  society,  and  stand  the  sole  ex- 
clusive social  system  of  the  South  %  That  is 
the  impending  question,  and  the  fact  is  yet 
to  be  recorded.  That  it  will  so  stand  some- 
where at  the  South  I  do  not  entertain  the 
slightest  question.  It  maj  be  overlooked  or 
disregarded  now.  It  has  be>n  the  vital  agent  of 
this  great  controversy.  It  has  energized  the 
'  arm  of  every  man  who  acts  a  part  in  this 
'  great  drama.     "VVe  may  shrink  from  recogni - 

>  tion  of  the  fact ;   we   may  decline  to  admit 

>  the  source  of  our  authority  ;  refuse  to  slavery 

*-»  *-~     a*— 

.     ,~ 


an  invitation  to  the  ,  table   which  .she  herself 
|  has  so  bountifully   spread  ;   but   not  for  that 
will  it  remain   powerless...  or  .unhonored.      It 
|  may  be  abandoned  by   Virginia^  Maryland, 
<  Missouri  ;  'South.  Carolina  herself  may  refuse 
'  to  espouse  it..     The  hireling  laborer  from  the 
I  North  and  Europe  may  drive  it  from  the  sea- 
|  board,     As  the  South  shall,  becoiile  the  cen- 
•  tre  of  her  own   trade,  the.  metropolis,  of  hei 
I  own  commerce,,  the  pauper  population  of  the 
[world  will   pour  upon   u§.     It   may   replace 
!  our  slaves  upon'the  seaboard, <is  i_fhas.replaced 
them  in  the  Northern  States  ;  but  concentrat- 
ed in  the  States  upon  the  Gulf  it.  wijd   make 
I  its  stand,   condensed  .to  the  point  at   which 
I  the  labor  of  the  slave  .transcends7  the  want  of 
agriculture,  it  ."w.i.ll _, ffow  Jo  other  objects  ;  it 
will    lay   its  giant  grasp    upon  still  other  de- 
I  paitments  of  industry  ;   its  every  step  will  be 
j  exclusive  ;   it    will   be   unquestioned   lord  of 
each     domain   on    which   it  -enters. ..  With 
I  that    perfect     economy   of.    resources,    that 
just  application  of  power,  .that   concentration 
of  forces,  that  security  of  order  which  results 
to  slavery  from    the  permanent   direction    of 
ils  best  intelligence,  there  is  no  other  form  of 
human  labor  that  can  stand  "against  it,  jarid  it 
will   build  itself  a  home  and   erect  .for  itself, 
at  some  point  within  the  present  limits  of  the 
Southern  States,  a  structure  of  imperial  power 
and  grandeur— a  glorious  Confedracy  of  States 
that   will   stand    aloft   and    serene   for  ages 
amid  the   anarchy  of  democracies  that, will 
reel  around  it.  .. 

But  it  may  be  thai  to  this  end.  another  ?  evolution 
max,  be  necessary.  It  is  to  he  apprehended  that 
this  contest  between  democracy  and  slavery 
is  not  yet  over.  It  is  certain  that  both  forms 
of  society  exist  within  the  limits  of  the  South- 
ern States  ;  both  are  distinctly,  developed 
within  the  limits  of  Virginia ;;  and  there, 
whether  we  perceive  the  fact  or  not,  the  war 
already  rages,  in  that  State  there  are  about 
500,000  slaves  to  about  1 .000,000  whites ; 
and  as  at  bust  as  many  slaves  as  masters  are  nec- 
essary to  the  constitution  of  slave  society,  about 
500,000  of  tiie  white  population  are  in  legit- 
imate relation  to  the  slaves,  and  the  rest  are 
in  excess.  Like  an  excess  of  alkali  or  acid 
in  chemical  experiments,  (hey  are  unfixed 
in  the  social  compound.  Without  legitimate 
connection  with  the  slave,  they  are  in  com- 
petition with  him.  They  constitute  not  a 
part  of  slave  society  but  a  democratic,  so- 
ciety. In  so  far  as  there  is  this  connection, 
the  State  is  slave  ;  is  so  far  as  there  is  not, 
it  is  democratic  ;  and  as  States  speak  only 
from  their  social  condition,  as  interests,  not 
intellect,  determine  their  political  action,  it 
is  thus  that  Virginia  has  been  undecided — 
that  she  does  not  truly  know  whether  she  is. 


of  the  North  or  South  in  this  great  move- 
ment. Her  people  are  individually  noble, 
brave,  and  patriotic,  and  they  will  strike  for 
the  South  in  resistance  to  physical  aggresion  ; 
but  her  political  action' is,  at  present,  paralyz- 
ed by  this  unnatural  contest,  and  as  causes 
of  disintegration  may  continue — must  con- 
tinue, if  the  slave  trade  be  not  re-opened — 
as  there  will  still  be  a  market  at  the  South  for 
her  slaves  ■ —  as  there  will  still  be  pauper 
labor  from  abroad  to  supply  their  places,  and 
more  atmndant  from  industrial  dissolutions 
at  the  North,  ~and  the  one  race  must  increase 
as  the  other  ts  diminished— it  is  to  he  feared 
that  there  the  slave  must  ultimately  fail,  and 
that  this  great  State  must  lose  the  institution 
and  bend  her  proud  spirit  to  the  yoke  of 
another  democratic  triumph.  In  Maryland, 
Missouri,  Kentucky,  and  even  Tennesse, 
and  North  Carolina,  the  same  facts  exist 
with  chances  of  the  like  result. 

And  evefi'  fh  this  State  (South  Carolina) 
the  tiltimate  result  is  not  determined.  The 
6lave  condition  here  would  seem  to  be  es- 
tablished. There  is  here  an  excess  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  slaves,  and 
hfire  is  fairly  exhibited  the  normal  nature  of 
the  institution.  The  officers  of  the  State  are 
slave-owners,  and  the  representatives  of 
slave-o'vvn'ers;'  1ft  their  public  acts  they  ex- 
hibit the  consciousness  of  a  superior  position. 
Without  unusual  individual  ability ,  they  ex- 
hibit the  elevalion'of  tone  and  composure  of 
public  sentiment  proper  to  a  master  class. 
There  is  no'  appeal  to  the  mass,  for  there  is 
no'  mass  to  appeal  to  ;  there  are  no  dema- 
gogues," for" there  is  no  populace  to  breed 
them  ;  judges  are  not  forced  upon  the  stump  ; 
governor's  are  not  dragged  before  the  people  ; 
and  whe'n 'there  Is'cause  to  act  upon  the  for- 
tunes of  our  social  institution,  there  is  perhaps 
an  unusual  readiness  to  meet  it.  The  large 
majority  of  our  people  are  in  legitimate  con- 
nection with"  the  institution-- in  legitimate 
dependance  on  the  slave;  and  it  were  to  be 
supposed  that  here  at  least  the  system  of 
slave  sociefy'would  be  permanent  and  pure. 
But'  even  here  the  process  ol  disintegration 
has  'commenced.  In  our  larger  towns  it  just 
begins'  to  be  apparent.  Within  ten  yeaas 
past  as  many  as  ten  thousand  slaves  have 
been  drawn  away  from  Charleston  by  the 
attractive'  prices  of  the  West,  and  laborers 
from  abroad*  have  come  to  take  their  places. 
These  laborers' have  every  disposition  to  work 
above  the  slave,and'if  there  were  opportunity 
would  be  glad  to  do  so  ;  but  without  such 
opportunity  ihey '  come"  to  competition  with 
him  ;  they  Are  necessarily  resistive  to  the 
contact.  Already  there  is  the  disposition  to 
exclude  him;  from  the  trades,  from   public 


works,  from  drays,  and  the  tables  of  hotels 
he  is  even  now  excluded  to  a  great  extent 
And  when  enterprises  at  the  North  are  broker 
up  ;  when  more  laborers  are  thrown  from  em- 
ployment;  when  they  shall  come  in  greater 
numbers  to 'the  South  they  will  still  more  in- 
crease the  tendency  to  exclusion  ;  they  will 
question  the  right  of  masters  to  employ  their 
slaves  in  any  works  that  they  may  wish  for  : 
they  wiil  invoke  the  aid  of  legislation  ;  they 
will  use  the  elective  franchise  to  that  end  ; 
they  may  acquire  the  power  to  determine 
municipal  elections;  they  will  inexorably 
use  it ;  and  thus  this  town  of  Charlestion,  at 
the  very  heart  of  slavery7,  may  become  a 
fortress  of  democratic  power  against  it.  As 
it  is  in  Charleston,  so  also  is  it  to  a  less  extent 
in  the  interior  towns. 

Nor  is  it  only  in  the  towns  the  tendency 
appears.  The  slaves,  from  lighter  lands 
within  the  State,  have  been  drawn  away  for 
years  for  higher  prices  in  the  West.  They 
are  now  being  drawn  away  from  rice  culture. 
Thousands  are  sold  from  rice  fields  every 
year.  None  are  brought  to  them  They 
have  already  been  drawn  from  the  culture  of 
indigo  and  all  manufacturing  employments. 
They  are  yret  retained  by  cotton  and  the  cul- 
ture incident  to  cotton  ;  but  as  almost  every 
negro  offered  in  our  markets  is  bid  for  by  the 
West  the  drain  is  likely  to  continue.  It  is 
probable  that  more  abundant  pauper  labor 
may  pou-r  in,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  even 
in  this  State,  the  purest  in  its  slave  condition, 
democracy  may  gain  a  foothold,  and  that 
here  also  the  contest  for  existence  may  be 
waged  between  them. 

It  thus  appe  irs  ihat  the  contest  ii  not  ended  with  a 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  that  the  agents  of  that 
contest  still  exist  within  the  limits  of  the  Southern 
States.  The  causes  that  have  contributed  to 
the  defeat  of  slavery  still  occur  ;  our  slaves 
are  still  drawn  off  by  higher  prices  to  the 
West.  There  is  still  foreign  pauper  labor 
ready  to  supply  their  place.  Maryland  Vir- 
gina,  Kentucky,  Mtssouri,  possibly  Tennessee 
and  North  Carolina,  may  lose  their  slaves,  as 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey 
have  done.  In  that  condition  they  must  re- 
commence the  contest.  There  is  no  avoiding 
that  necessity.  The  systems  cannot  mix ; 
and  thus  it  is  that  slavery,  like  the  Thracian 
horse  returning  from  the  field  of  victory,  still 
bears  a  master  on  his  back  ;  and,  hiving  achiev- 
ed one  revolution  to  escape  democracy  at  the  North, 
it  musi  still  achieve  another  to  escape  it  a'  the  South. 
That  it  will  ultimately  triumph  none  can 
doubt.  It  will  become  redeemed  and  vindi- 
cated, and  the  only  question  now  to  be  deter- 
mined is,  shall  there  be  another  revolution  to 
thai  end  1      It  is   not   necessary.      Slavery 


within  the  seceding  States  at  least  is  now 
emancipated  if  men  put  forward  as  its  agents 
have  intrepidity  to  realize  the  fact  and  act 
upon  it.  It  is  free  to  choose  its  constitution 
and  its  policy,  and  you  and  others  are  now 
elected  to  the  high  office  of  that  determina- 
tion. If  you  shall  elect  slavery  avow  it  and 
affirm  it ;  not  as  an  existing  fact,  but  as  a 
living  piinciple  of  social  order,  and  assert  its 
right,  not  to  toleration  only,  but  to  extension 
and  to  political  recognition  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  If,  in  short,  you  shall  own 
slavery  as  the  source  of  your  authority,  and 
act  for  it,  and  erect,  as  you  are  commissioned 
to  erect,  not  only  a  Southern,  but  a  Slave  Re- 
public, the  work  will  be  accomplished.  Those 
States  intending  to  espouse  and  perpetuate 
the  institution  will  enter  your  Confedracy  ; 
those  that  do  not,  will  not.  Your  Republic 
will  not  require  the  pruning  process  of  ano- 
ther revolution  ;  but,  poised  upon  its  institu- 
tions, will  move  on  to  a  career  of  greatness 
and  of  glory  unapproached  by  any  other  na- 
tion in  the  world. 

But  if  you  shall-not ;  if  you  shall  commence 
by  ignoring  slavery,  or  shall  be  content  to 
edge  it  on  by  indirection  ;  if  you  shall  exhibit 
care  but  for  a  Republic,  respect  but  for  a  de- 
mocracy ;  if  you  shall  stipulate  for  the  toler- 
ation of  slavery  as  an  existing  evil  by  admit- 
ting assumptions  to  its  prejudice  and  restric- 
tions to  its  power  and  progress,  re-inaugurate 
the  blunder  of  1789;  you  will  combine 
States,  whether  true  or  not,  to  slavery ;  you 
will  have  no  tests  of  faith  ;  some  will  find 
it  to  their  interest  to  abandon  it ;  slave  labor 
will  be  fettered  ;  hireling  labor  will  be  free  ; 
your  Confederacy  is  again  divided  into  antagonist 
societies;  the  irrepressible  conflict  is  again  com- 
menced ;  and  as  slavery  can  sustain  the  struc- 
ture of  a  stable  government,  and  will  sustain 
such  structure,  and  as  it  will  sustain  no  structure 
but  its  own,  another  revolution  comes — but  whether 
in  the  order  and  propriety  of  this,  is  gravely  to  be 
doubted. 

Is  it,  then,  in  the  just  performance  of  your 
office,  that  you  would  impose  a  constitutional 
restriction  against  the  foreign  slave  trade  ? 
Will  you  affirm  slavery  by  reprobating  the 
means  of  its  formation  ?  Will  you  extend 
slavery  by  introducing  the  means  to  its  ex- 
tinction ?  W  ill  you  declare  to  Virginia  if  she 
shall  join,  that  under  no  circumstances  shall 
she  be  at  liberty  to  restore  the  integrity  of  her 
slave  condition  l  that  her  five  hundred  thou- 
sand masters  without  slaves  shall  continue  1 
that  the  few  slaves  she  has  shall  still  be  sub- 
ject to  the  requisitions  of  the  South  and  West  1 
that  she  shall  still  be  subject  to  the  incursions 
of  white  laborers,  without  the  slaves  to  neu- 
tralize their  social  tendencies  1    and   thus, 


therefore,  that  she  must  ceitainly  submit  to 
be  abolitionized,  and  when  so  abolitionized, 
that  she  must  surely  be  thrown  off,  to  take 
her  fortunes  with  the  Abolition  States  1  W:ll 
you  say  the  same  to  Maiyland,  Kentucky, 
Missouri,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee  1 
Will  you  declare  to  the  State  of  South  Caro- 
lina that,  if  the  canker  of  democracy  eats 
into  her  towns  and  cilies  ;  if  her  lighter  lands 
are  exposed,  her  forms  of  culture  are  aban- 
doned, she  must  still  submit  to  it  1  To  Texas, 
that  to  her  imperial  domain  no  other  slaves 
shall  come  than  those  she  may  extort  from 
older  States  ;  and  that  she  must  submit  to  be 
the  waste  she  is,  or  else  accept  the  kind  of 
labor  that  must  demoralize  .the  social  nature 
of  the  State  l  Will  you  do  this,  and  yet  say- 
that  you  erect  slavery  and  affirm  it,  and,  in 
your  ministrations  at  its  altar,  own  it  as  the 
true  and  only  source  of  your  authority  1  Indi- 
vidually, 1  am  sure  you  will  not.  I  am  too 
well  assured  of  your  intelligent  perception  of 
the  questions  at  issue,  and  of  your  devotion  to 
the  great  cause  you  have  espoused,  to  enter- 
tain a  doubt  upon  that  subject ;  but  others 
may,  and  that  I  may  meet  suggestions  likely 
to  arise,  1  will  task  your  indulgence  further. 

Then  why  adopt  this  measure  !  Is  it  that 
Virginia  and  the  other  Border  States  require 
it  1  They  may  require  it  now,  but  is  it  cer- 
tain they  will  continue  to  require  it  ?  Vir- 
ginia and  the  rest  have  never  yet  regarded 
slavery  as  a  normal  institution  of  society. 
They  have  regarded  the  slave  as  property 
but  not  slavery  as  a  relation.  They  have 
treated  it  as  a  prostitution,  but  have  never  yet 
espoused  it.  Their  men  of  intellect  have  ex- 
hibited enlightened  views  upon  this  subject, 
but  their  politicians  who  have  held  the  pub- 
lic ear  have  ever  presented  it  as  a  thing  of 
dollars,  and  to  be  fought  for,  if  need  be,  bul  not 
to  be  cherished  and  perpetuated.  And  is  it 
certain  that  when  better  opinions  shall  pre- 
vail ;  that  when  they  join,  if  they  shall  join,  a 
Slave  Republic,  a  Republic  to  perpetuate  the 
institution,  when  there  shall  be  less  induce- 
ment to  sell  their  slaves,  and  the  assurance 
that  when  they  shall  sell  them  they  will  fall 
under  the  rule  of  a  democracy  which  must  unfit 
them  for  association  in  a  slave  Confederacy — the 
people  of  these  States  may  not  solicit  an  in- 
crease of  slaves.  And  is  it  policy  to  preclude 
the  possibility  of  such  an  increase?  But  ad- 
mit the  change  may  never  come,  yet  against 
all  the  evils  to  result  from  the  slave  trade 
these  States  are  competent  to  protect  them- 
selves. The  failure  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment to  preclude  that  trade  by  constitutional 
provision  by  no  means  precludes  them  from 
such  a  prohibition.  If  they  may  never  want 
them,  they  may  keep  them  out,  without  the 


6 


application  of  a  Procrustean  poLcy  to  all  the 
other  States  of  the  Confedracy.  It  may  be 
said  that  without  such  general  restriction  thj 
value  of  their  slaves  will  he  diminished  in 
the  markets  of  the  West.  Tkfy  hvve  no  right 
to  ask  that  there  slaves,  or  any  other  products,  skull 
be  protected  to  unnatural  value  in  the  markets  of 
the  West.  If  they  presist  in  regarding  the 
negro  but  as  a  thing  of  trade— a  thing  which 
they  are  too  good  to  use,  but  only  can  pro- 
duce for  others'  uses — and  join  the  Confed- 
racy, as  Pennsylvania  or  Massachusetts 
might  do,  not  to  support  the  structure,  but  to 
profit  by  it,  it  were  as  well  they  should  not 
join,  and  we  can  find  no  interest  in  such  as- 
sociation. 

Is  it  that  the  Cotton  States  themselves  re- 
qrire  it  ■'  If  so,  each  for  itself  may  adopt  the 
prohibition.  But  they  do  not.  The  political 
leaders  of  ihe  country  are  not  ready  for  the 
proposition,  as  they  were  not  ready  for  the 
measure  of  secession.  Many  leaders  of  the 
South,  many  men  who  meet  you  in  Conven- 
tion, have  been  forced  to  that  position  by  a 
popular  movement  they  had  never  the  politi- 
cal courage  to  direct  ;  and  so,  perhaps,  in  any 
■case  the  whole  machinery  of  society  must 
start  before  the  political  hands  upon  the  dial 
plate  can  indicate  its  progress  ;  and  so,  there- 
fore, as  this  question  is  not  moved — as  the 
members  of  this  Congress  are  charged  to 
perfect  the  dissolution  of  the  old  government, 
but  have  not  been  instructed  as  to  this  per- 
manent requisition  of  the  new  —they  may  be 
mistaken,  as  they  wordd  have  been  mistaken, 
if  by  chance  they  had  met  six  months  ago 
and  spoken  upon  the  question  of  secession. 
And  they  are  mistaken,  if,  from  any  reference 
to  popular  feeling,  they  inaugurite  the  action 
now  proposed.  Thk  people  of  the  Cotton  States 
Want  labor  ;  they  knoiv  that  whites  ani  slaws  can- 
not wo<-k  together.  They  have  no  thought  of 
abandoning  their  slaves  that  they  may  get 
white  labor  ;  and  they  want  slaves,  therefore, 
and  they  lotil  have  them  -  —  from  the  Seaboard 
States,  if  the  slave  trade  be  not  opened,  and 
they  cannot  heartily  embrace  a  policy  which, 
while  ii  will  tend  to  degrade  the  Seaboard 
States  to  the  condition  of  a  democracy,  will 
compel  them  to  p.ry  double  and  treble  prices  for 
their  labor. 

It  may  be  said  in  this  connection  that, 
though  the  Cotton  States  might  tolerate  the 
slave  trade,  it  would  overstock  the  country 
and  induce  a  kind  of  social  suffocation.  It 
is  one  of  the  most  grievous  evils  of  the  time 
that  men  have  persisted  in  legislating  on  do- 
mestic slavery  with  what  would  seem  to  be 
an  industrious  misapprehension  of  its  requi- 
sites. It  is  assumed  that  it  is  ready  to  ex- 
plode while  it  is  in  an  ordinary  state  of  mar- 


tial law,  as  perfect  as  that  which,  in  times 
of  popular  outbreak,  is  the  last  and  surest 
provision  for  security  and  order.  It  is  as- 
sumed that  the  negro  is  unfit  for  mechanical 
employments,  when  he  exhibits  an  imitative 
power  of  manipulation  unsurpassed  by  any 
other  creature  in  the  world  ;  and  when,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  we  see  him  daily  in  the  suc- 
cessful prosecution  of  the  trades,  and  are 
forced  to  know  that  he  is  not  more  generally 
employed  for  reason  of  the  higher  prices  of- 
fered for  him  by  our  fields  of  cotton.  It  is 
assumed  that  he  cannot  endure  the  cold  of 
the  Northern  States,  when  he  dies  not  more 
readily  in  Canada  than  Domingo,  and  when 
the  finest  specimens  of  negro  character  and 
negro  form  to  be  met  w'th  in  the  world  are 
on  the  northern  borders  of  Maryland  and 
Missouri.  It  is  assumed  that  whenever  he 
comes  in  contact  with  free  society  we  must 
quail  before  it,  when  it  is  evident  that  the 
question  which  shall  prevail  is  dependant  on 
the  question  which  can  work  the  cheapest  ; 
and  when  it  is  evident  that  with  slaves  at 
starvation  prices — slaves  at  prices  to  which 
they  will  be  reduced  by  the  question  whether 
we  shall  give  them  up  or  feed  them — at 
prices  to  which  they  will  be  reduced  when 
the  question  comes  whether  they  shall  starve 
the  hireling  or  the  hireling  the  slave,  the 
system  of  domestic,  slavery,  guided  always 
by  its  best  intelligence,  directed  always  by 
the  strictest  economy,  with  few  invalids  and 
few  inefficients,  can  underwork  the  world. 
And  it  is  assumed  that,  hemmed  in  as  we 
will  be,  but  a  slight  addition  to  our  slaves 
will  induce  disastrous  consequences.  But  it 
is  demonstrable  that  negroes  are  more  easily 
held  to  slavery  than  white  men  ;  and  that 
more  in  proportion,  therefore,  can  be  held  in 
subjection  by  the  same  masters  :  and  yet  in 
the  Republic  of  Athens  of  white  slaves  there 
were  four  to  one  ;  and  in  portions  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire  the  proportion  was  greater  still  ; 
and  upon  this  ratio  the  slaves  might  be  in- 
creased to  forty  millions,  without  a  corre- 
sponding increase  among  the  whites,  and 
yet  occur  no  disaster  ;  but  on  our  rice  lands, 
isolated  to  a  great  extent  where  negroes  are 
employed  in  thousands,  there  is  often  not 
one  white  man  to  one  hundred  slaves.  Nor 
is  there  greater  danger  of  an  overcrowded 
population.  Slaves  may  be  held  to  greater 
density  than  freemen  ;  order  will  be  greater, 
and  the  economy  of  resources  will  be  greater. 
Athens  had  seven  hundred  to  the  square 
mile,  while  Belgium,  the  most  densely  pop- 
ulated state  of  modern  Europe,  has  but  about 
three  hundred  and  eighty-eight  to  the  square 
mile  ;  and  with  a  population  only  as  dense 
as  Belgium,  South   Carolina   could  hold  the 


population  of  the  Southern  States,  and  Texas 
three  times  the  present  population  of  the 
Union. 

Is  it  that  foreign  nations  will  require  it  1 
As  a  matter  of  tasle  they  might  perhaps. 
There  is  a  mode  upon  the  subject  of  human 
rights  at  present,  and  England,  France,  and 
other  States  that  are  leaders  of  the  mode, 
might  be  pleased  to  see  the  South  comply 
with  the  standard  of  requirement,  and,  pro- 
vided only  no  serious  inconvenience  or  injury 
resulted,  would  be  pleased  to  see  the  South 
suppress  not  only  the  slave  trade,  but  slavery 
itself.  But  will  our  failure  to  do  so  make 
any  greater  difference  in  our  relations  with 
those  States  1  Men  may  assume  it  if  they 
will,  but  it  argues  a  pitiable  want  of  intelli- 
gence and  independence,  an  abject  want  of 
political  spirit,  to  suppose  it.  France  and 
England  trade  in  coolies,  and  neither  will 
have  the  hardihood  to  affirm  that  between 
that  and  the  slave  trade  there  is  an  essential 
difference,  and  practising  the  one  they  can- 
not war  with  us  for  practising  the  others. 
Nor,  in  fact,  do  they  wase  war  upon  the 
slave  trade.  Spain  permits  the  trade  in  Cuba, 
though  she  acknowledges  the  mode  by  pro- 
fessing to  prohibit  it.  '  Portugal  and  Turkey 
do  not  even  so  much.  Even  England  lends 
her  ships  to  keep  the  slave  trade  open  in  the 
Black  Sea  ;  and  almost  every  slave  bought 
in  Africa  is  paid  for  in  English  fabriccs,  to 
the  profit  of  the  English  merchant,  and  with 
the  knowledge  of  the  British  government. 
In  view  of  these  facts,  it  were  simple  to  sup- 
pose that  European  States  will  practice  senti- 
ment at  the  expense  of  interest.  And  have 
ithey  interest  in  the  suppression  of  the  slave 
trade  l  Three  years  ago  in  my  report  to  the 
Commercial  Convention  at  Montgomery,  I 
said  that  European  States  are  hostile  to  the 
Union.  Perhaps  "  they  see  in  it  a  threaten- 
ing rival  in  every  branch  of  art,  and  they  see 
that  rival  armed  with  one  of  the  most  potent 
productive  institutions  the  world  has  ever 
seen  :  they  would  crush  India  and  Algeria  to 
make  an  equal  supply  of  cotton  with  the 
North  ;  and,  failing  in  this,  they  would  crush 
slavery  to  bring  the  North  to  a  footing  with 
them,  but  to  slavery  without  the  North  the}- 
have  no  repugnance  ;  on  the  contrary,  if  it 
were  to  stand  out  for  itself,  free  from  the  con- 
trol of  any  other  power,  and  were  to  offer  to 
European  States,  upon  fair  terms,  a  full  sup- 
ply of  its  commodities,  it  would  not  only  not 
be  warred  upon,  but  the  South  would  be 
singularly  favored — crowns  would  bend  be- 
fore her  ;  kingdoms  and  empires  would  break 
a  lanee  to  win  the  smile  of  her  approval ;  and, 
quitting  her  free  estate,  it  would  be  in  her 
option  to  become  the  bride  of  the  world,  ra- 


ther than  as  now,  the  miserable   mistress  of 
the  North." 

This  opinion  seemed  then  almost  absurd, 
but  recent  indications  have  rendered  it  the 
common  opinion  of  the  country  5  and  as, 
therefore,  they  have  no  repugnance  to  slavery 
in  accordance  with  their  interests,  so  also 
can  they  have  none  to  the  extension  of  it. 
They  will  submit  to  any  terms  of  intercourse 
with  the  Slave  Republic  in  consideration  of 
its  markets  and  its  products.  An  increase  of 
slaves  will  increase  the  market  and  supply. 
They  will  pocket  their  philanthropy  and  the 
profits  together,  Jlnd  so  solicitude  us  to  the  feel- 
111$  of  foreign  States  upon  this  subject  is  gratuit- 
ous :  and  so  it  is  that  our  suppression  of  the  slave 
trade  is  warranted,  by  no  nee  ssity  to  respect  Ike  sen- 
timent of  foreign  States.  We  may  abnegate 
ourselves  if  we  will,  defer  to  others  if  we  will 
but  every  such  act  is  a  confession  of  a  weak- 
ness the  Jess  excusable  that  it  does  not  exist, 
and  we  but  industriously  provoke  the  con- 
tempt of  States  we  are  desirous  to  propitiate. 
Is  it  that  we  debase  our  great  movement  by 
letting  it  down  to  the  end  of  getting  slaves? 
We  do  not  propose  to  re-open  the  slave  trade  ; 
we  merely  propose  take  no  action  on  the 
subject.  I  truly  think  we  want  more  slaves. 
We  want  them  to  the  proper  cultivation  of 
our  soil,  to  the  just  development  of  our  re- 
sources, and  to  the  proper  constitution  of 
society.  Even  in  this  State  I  think  we  want 
them  ;  of  eighteen  million  acres  of  land  less 
than  four  million  are  in  cultivation.  We 
have  no  seamen  for  our  commerce,  if  we  had 
it,  and  no  operatives  for  the  arts  ;  but  it  is  not 
for  that  1  now  oppose  restrictions  on  the  slave 
trade.  1  oppose  them  from  the  wish  to  eman- 
cipate our  institution.  I  legird  the  slave,  trade 
as  the  lest  of  its  in/eg?  ity.  If  that  be  right ,  then 
slavery  is  right,  hut  not  without;  and  1  have 
been  too  clear  in  my  perceptions  of  the  claims 
of  that  great  institution — too  assured  of  the 
failure  of  antagonist  democracy,  too  convinc- 
ed the  one  presents  the  conditions  of  social 
order,  too  convinced  the  other  does  not,  and 
too  convinced,  therefore,  that  the  one  must 
stand  while  the  other  falls,  to  abate  my  efforts 
or  pretermit  the  means  by  which  it  maj  be 
brought  to  recognition  and  establishment. 

Believing,  then,  that  this  is  a  test  of  slav- 
ery, and  that  the  institution  cannot  be  right 
it  the  trade  be  not,  I  regard  the  coast itulional 
■prohibition  as  a  great  calamity  If  the  (rade  be 
only  wrong  in  policy  it  would  be  enough  to 
leave  its  exclusion  to  the  several  States  that  • 
would  feel  the  evils  of  that  policy;  but  it  is  only 
upon  the  supposition  that  it  is  wrong  in  prin- 
ciple, wrong  radically,  and  therefore  never  to 
be  rendered  proper  by  any  change  of  circum- 
stances which  may  make  it  to  our  interest, 


8 


that  it  is  becoming  in  the  general  government 
to  take  organic  action  to  arresr.  The  action 
of  the  Coniedracy  is,  then,  a  declaration  of 
that  fact,  and  it  were  vain  to  sustain  the  in- 
stitution in  the  face  of  such  admissions  to  its 
prejudice. 

It  will  be  said  that  at  the  outset  of  our 
career  it  were  wise  to  exhibit  deference  to 
the  moral  sentiment  of  the  world  ;  the  obli- 
gation is  as  perfect  to  respect  the  moral  sen- 
timent of  the  world  against  the  institution. 
The  world  is  just  as  instant  to  assert  that 
slavery  itself  is  wrong,  and  if  we  forego  the 
slave  trade  in  consideration  of  the  moral  feel- 
ing of  the  world,  then  why  not  slavery  also  ? 
It  were  madness  now  to  blink  the  question. 
We  are  entering  at  lust  upon  a  daring  {novation 
upon  tke  sociil  constitutions  of  the  world.  Wf 
are  erecting  a  nationality  upon  a  union  of 
races,  where  other  nations  have  but  one.  We 
cannot  dodge  the  issue;  we  cannot  disguise  the 
issue ;  we  cannot  sttjtly  change  our  front  in  the 
facz  of  a  vis.ilar:t  adversary.  Every  attempt  to 
do  so,  every  refusal  to  assist  ourselves,  every 
intellectual  or  political  eVasion,  is  a  point 
against  us.  We  may  postpone  the  crisis  by 
disguises,  but  the  slave  republic  must  forego 
its  nature  and  its  destiny,  or  it  must  meet 
the  issue,  and  our  assertion  of  ourselves  will 
not  be  easier  for  admission"?  made  against  us. 
And  is  not  in  fact  from  a  sense  of  weakness 
there  is  such  admission  'l  Is  there  a  man 
who  votes  for  this  measure  but  fiom  mis- 
givings as  to  slavery,  and  as  to  the  propriety 
of  its  extension  ?  Therefore  is  there  not  the 
feeling  that  the  finger  of  scorn  will  be  point- 
ed at  him  without  ;  and  is  he  who  doubts  the 
institution,  or  he  who  has  no  higher  standard 
of  the  right  than  what  the  world  may  say 
about  it,  the  proper  man  to  build  the  structure 
of  a  slave  republic  1  The  members  of  that 
Convention  are  elected  to  important  posts  in 
the  grand  drama  of  human  history.  Such 
opportunity  but  seldom  comes  of  moulding 
the  destiny  of  men  and  nations.  If  they  shall 
rise  to  the  occasion,  they  6hall  realize  their 
work  and  do  it,  they  will  leave  a  record  that 
will  never  be  effaced  ;  but  if  they  shall  not — 
of  they  6hall  shrink  from  truth,  for  reason  that 
it  is  unhonored  ;  if  they  shall  cling  to  error, 
for  reason  that  it  is  approved,  and  so  let  down 
their  character,  and  act  some  other  part  then 
that  before  them,  they  will  leave  a  record 
which  their  successors  will  be  anxious  to 
efface — names  which  posterity  will  be  de- 
lighted to  honor. 

Opinions,  when  merely  true,  move  slowly  ; 
but  when  approved,  acquire  proclivity.   Those 


J  as  to  the   right  of  slavery  have  been  true 
i  merely  so  far,  but  they  came  rapidly  to  cul- 
:  mination.     I  was   the  single  advocate  of  the 
slave  trsde  in  1S53  ;  it  is  now  the  question  of  the 
I  time.     Many  of  us  remember  when  we  heard 
j  slavery  first  declared  to  be  of  the  normal  con- 
!  stitution  of  society  :  few  now  will  dare  to  dis- 
j  affirm  it.     Those  opinions  now  roll  on  ;  they 
I  are  now  not  only  true  but  are   coming  to  be 
j  trusted  ;  they  have  moved  the  structure  of  the 
State,  and  men  who  will  not  take  the  impulse 
and  advance  must  perish  in  the  track  of  their 
;  advancement.     The  members  of  your  Con- 
!  vention  may  misdirect  the  movement — they 
may  impede  the  movement — thtymay  so  divert 
lit  that  another  revolution  may  be  ne  i  essary ;  but 
if  necessarily  that   other  revolution   comes, 
slavery   will    stand    serene,  erect   aloft,   un- 
questioned  as  to  its  rights  or  its  integrity  at 
some  points  within  the  limits  of  the  Southern 
States,   and   it  is   only  for  present  actors  to 
determine  whether  they  will  contribute  or  be 
crushed  to  that  result. 

1  hope  you  will  pardon   this  communica- 
tion ;  it  is  too  long,  but  I  have  not  had  time 
to   make   it   shorter.     I   hope  also  you  will 
j  find    it    consistent    with    your  views   to  urge 
'  the    policy   I   have  endeavored  to  advance. 
;  1J  the  clause  be  earned  into  the  permanent  govern- 
ment, ou7  whole  movement  is  defeated.      It   will 
abolitionize  the  Border  Slave  Stales — it  will 
i  brand  our  institution.     Slavery  cannot  share 
I  a   government   with    democracy — it  cannot 
bear  a  brand  upon  it ;   thence  another  revolution. 
|  It  may  be   painful,  but  we   must  make  it,      The 
Constitution    cannot   be    changed    without. 
The  Border  States,  discharged  of  slavery,  will 
oppose  it.     They  are  to  be  included  by  the 
concession  ;  they  will  be  sufficient  to  defeat 
it.     It  is  doubtful  if  another  movement  will  be  so 
peaceful;  but   no   matter,  no  power  but  the 
Convention  can  avert  the   necessity.      The 
clause  need  not  necessarily  be  carried  into 
the  permanent  government,  but  I  fear  it  will 
be.     The  belief  that  it  is  agreeable  to  popu- 
lar feeling  will   continue.      The  popular  mind 
cannot  now  be  worked  up  to  the  task  dispelling  the 
belief;  the  same  men   who  have  prepared  the 
provisional  will  prepare  the  permanent  con- 
stitution ;  the  same  influence  will  affect  them. 
It  will  be  difficult  to  reverse  their   judgment 
in  the   conventions   of  the    several    States. 
The  effort  will  at  least  distract  us,  and  so  it  is  to  be 
feard  this  fatal  action  may  be   consummated ;  but 
that  it  may  not  is  the  most  earnest  wish  I 
now  can  entertain. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

L.  W.  SPRATT. 


